^r^: 



¥ 



•234 THE GENESEE FARMER 



good crops of hay without any manure. The full and perfect renovation of the depau- 

 perated earth from which gx-nerous harvests have been gathered, is an object of the tirst 

 importance with every considerate agriculturist. To neglect this professional duty shows 

 that the first elements of wise and successful husbandry are either unknowii or repudiated. 



We believe that wheat-culture can be made profitable in Massachusetts, and the other 

 New England States, to the extent of growing all that is needed for home consumption. 

 In addition to all the manure that can be made on the farm, guano is now cheap eni^ugh, 

 judging from its etiects in producing wheat on the poor lands of Delaware, Maryland, 

 and Virginia, to assist the wheat-growers north of Delaware quite as much as it does 

 south of the Hudson river. There is no good reason why this highly concentrated fer- 

 tilizer should/be less valuable in grain-culture when used in Massachusetts, New Hamp- 

 shire, Vermont, and Maine, than in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and 

 North Carolina. Guano has more than doubled the value of thousands if not millions 

 of acres in the States last named. Our New England friends will do well to experiment 

 with this manure in growing wheat and corn more than they have hitherto done. 

 Al'one, it will fail to produce good wheat after the alkalies are measurably washed out 

 of the soil by long tillage without adequate restitution ; for 300 lbs. of guano does not 

 supply as much potash as an acre of land parts with in bearing a fair crop of wheat. 

 Tlie remedy is to apply occasionally a few bushels of good ashes per acre. Where 

 ashes are not to be had, clay that contains considerable potas-h, or greensand, may be 

 used as a substitute, particularly on sandy, gravelly, and porous soils. Good virgin clay 

 always abounds in the elements of fertility in a dormant or nascent state. These 

 alimentary substances are brought out and rendered available by the mechanical and 

 chemical effects of tillage. There are many advantages in resorting to fat clay to 

 obtain the mineral food of plants. First, Clay costs nothing but the labor of subsoil- 

 ing, or of hauling a short distance. Secondly, The light and heat of the sun, the frosts 

 of winter, the oxvgen and carbonic acid of the atmosphei-e, and the rains and dews that 

 fall upon every square foot of land, are invaluable in developing the latent powers of rich 

 clays ; and they too cost nothing. As we have heretofore repeatedly stated, by slightly 

 charring clay and adding a little caustic lime, whatever potash, soda, phosphoric and 

 sulphuric acids it may contain in a before insoluble condition, will be brought out more 

 speedily by this operation. Th- presence of lime in considerable quantity imparts to lime- 

 stone lands, the world over, a higher reputation for wheat-culture than attaches to soils 

 nearly destitute of calcareous matter. This is a fact of great significance, and one that our 

 eastern and southern friends should carefully ponder. It is true that lime alone will not 

 produce wlieat, nor any other crop ; but it is an indispensable element in all fertile land, 

 and one that is lacking in more than a moiety of the cultivated ftxrms in the United States. 



No crop shows the skill of the farmer to better advantage than that of wheat. Let 

 him plow deep and stir all the earth, harrow thoroughly, subdue all grass, bushes, 

 briars, and weeds, where they exist, and the crop will command the full benefit of what- 

 ever strength the soil may naturally possess, so that if manured at all, a little may go 

 far in augmenting the harvest. Much depends on giving fertilizers the best possible 

 chance to aid in the growth of cultivated plants. On well tilled land manure does twice 

 the good that is realized on badly cultivated fields; and yet, many fanners seem to 

 believe that a ton of guano, or stable manure, should do all in producing grain, no 

 matter how poorly the soil is cultivated. 



Profit and loss in rural affairs are not studied so closely and accurately as they ought 

 to be, and must be, to attain the highest success. Not until the rawlnaterials of crops, 

 as they exist in the surface of the earth, are entirely familiar to the husbandman, can 

 he husband them with the best economy. To do this, he must know how to work up 

 the things that make grain, grass, roots, tubers, fruits, and timber, with the least loss 

 of his capital in the soil. 



6, 



